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In recent years, two teams have been able to knock Cal League of Legends out of the College League of Legends Tournament: UCSD and UBC. Cal overcame both of its old rivals this year, and as the team entered semifinals, only UC Irvine stood in the way of its most successful run in the last four years.

But this time, Cal’s season was abruptly cut short when one of its starting players had a family emergency. The team was forced to forfeit its semifinals match upon failing to field a full roster and finished the 2019 West Conference in third place (tied with Arizona State University).

Although a forfeit due to outside circumstance is disappointing, team captain Robert “Roflcopter” Lemons is satisfied that his team has exceeded expectations.

“I just wanted to break into playoffs, which is generally the goal for most teams. But we made top four, which is better than I thought we would do,” said Lemons.

This marks the last official College League of Legends tournament for the two graduating seniors on the team, Lemons and mid-laner Aaron “isthatthem” Olguin. There is, however, one final horizon for this roster.

Cal is now competing in the Pacific Esports (PAC-E) League of Legends Invitational, hosted by UCLA Esports. All twelve Pac-12 Conference schools are represented in the tournament. The online group stage spans from April 8 to April 22. At the end of groups, the top four teams will fly out to Los Angeles for the final rounds.

Cal is currently 2-0 in the invitational; victories against the University of Oregon and the University of Southern California in week 1 of the tournament have the Bears in a four-way tie for first, alongside UCLA, Arizona State and the University of Utah.

With four matches left to separate them from the pack, the 2019 roster is looking forward to its last competition together.